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Media Coverage for a Startup

Media coverage - startups

Now a days, paid media coverage is growing at a fast pace. Every startup wants to get published in some magazine or in TikTok but before you start unisg this app check this hacks for TikTok. I just had a meeting with one investor. I was trying to know what is the investor’s point of view when a startup gets published in media. The very first response from the investor is that if its a standalone article focused on the startup then they are going to overlook it. Because it’s a paid content. Investors know in detail about all publishing infra and a paid content is something they dont want to take a look.

But if they found a startup referred in any article then they will be more interested to know about the startup. Some of the prominent news media covering this space are economic times, yourstory, etc… If you are referred in any of the article by these publishing houses then there is a bigger chance that investor will get a notice about it.

I have also observed, google news is another important media used by most people to find any news article referring any startups. Just use google news search and then search the company, it will list you all news articles those mentioned your company name.

However, its quite blurred to whether go for paid article or not. With most media houses publishing paid articles, we were in fact approached many times by top media houses but its too expensive. If a startup is well funded or good revenue then I would prefer to get published in some prominent news media.

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Experience at Ezmap

So describing my experience at ezMap is not just a feeling but a great opportunity to thank to my mentor and CEO Mr. Ranjan Baisak. Speaking about our CEO, a man having passion and an attitude towards life that we can see in today’s entrepreneur, SHARP & FOCUSED. Not every person have the courage to support and run a start up, to fight for what he has dreamt of in his childhood, to have a company of his own, but Mr. Baisak, struggled and didn’t lose hope to achieve what he ever wanted. He is very Hardworking and a Tech Enthusiast. He loves working on Linux and have a huge range of Apple products . Now a days we find people who listen just to reply, but there are a few people like Mr. Baisak who listen to listen. He carefully listened to every problem we faced rather than jumping to conclusions, which at the end were really helpful to communicate with each other freely. I was more of a friend to him rather than just an intern. Being at ezMap is just not fun, its a place for both fun & learning.

Staying at a Guest Room in Mr. Baisak’s bungalow with my friend also a fellow intern was indeed a great experience. We arrived in Bangalore on 10th September, 2016. The house was very far from the station and it took 500 bucks with a private cab to reach there, but thanks to Mr.Baisak that he took care of all our expenses. Not even in my lifetime I had such casual journey with a cab and paid 500 bucks. God, Bangalore is too expensive, but I love this place and its people. So it was around 09:00pm when we reached at his house and we had a talk earlier over phone that we will be having our dinner in their place. So Mr.Baisak made all the arrangements but he did know little about me that I was a Vegetarian and he ordered a Non-vegetarian biryani for me. When he knew about this he felt bad and I dnt know what he did with that biryani but in no time he managed for some parathas and we had a great dinner thereafter. And after having dinner we went for a sound sleep.
The next day we all sat together to discuss the plan of our months stay and what we have to build. The business idea was very clean & clear. So from the same day we all started with our work without wasting time. The good thing about the team was they always hated wasting time and pull out the best of it. So I worked around till 03:00am – 04:00am in the morning and managed to build the frame work of the app in few days. Building the framework helped both the web developers and the app developers in a way that it was chosen as standard. With a descent simple UI and feature. Still there are certain things to be build and the work is under progress.
Looking at my work and passion towards it, Mr. Baisak gave me the authority to manage people. We have 2 interns who work from their home and they were helping us in our App. So that I have never managed people before, it was a huge opportunity for me and I took it with great confidence and enthusiasm. There were many times we failed to achieve our given targets but we never lost hope and tried our level best to complete it on time.
We needed to get some people on board because it was getting difficult for us to manage such huge application, Mr. Baisak trusted me and told me to talk to few people I know and bring them on board and even fulfilled watever they wanted.

Being at ezMap.in was like a wish come true. I always wished to work over extended displays but being a student I couldn’t afford one. But as soon as this was reported to Mr. Baisak he then and there bought a 24 inches Monitor for me to work upon and I was so overwhelmed. One more instance was that the room didn’t had any proper table to work on and it was very difficult to work without it. So guess what, a brand new table was ordered the next day and within few days we started working on that. So finally our one month stay got over and were to leave. It was a privilege that Mr. Baisak himself came with me to see me off to station and it is a privilege because on the way Mr. Baisak told me that he never goes out so late at night even when he have relatives to arrive but he did it for me. Thank You for your time Sir ;).

We never felt the shortage of anything at EZMAP. A great CEO, a great place, a great working experience, a great stay. Have a wish come here and it will be fulfilled. Same is being done for a huge mass. Collaborative Community Driven is what we have always believed in. Stay tuned for a revolutionary product in the market. Cheers ezMap.

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Startup India Initiative : Key challenges

India’s startup space is now talk of the world with startups now have easier access to capital, mentors, and there is lesser taboo associated with starting a new venture. This has brought lot of challenges too – lot of crowding in ‘upcoming sectors’, founders unable to grow their ventures beyond a certain point, administrative red tape etc. Only a small percentage of startups are able to sustain themselves and grow and expand.

The recent #startupindia program by Modi govt is a great initiative and it should have been started longtime back as mentioned by our hon’ble President. The active engagement of PM Modi with key CEOs has given a fillip to the startup ecosystem. At the startup event in California, he said, “When I shifted to Delhi last year, I thought of my government as a startup. So, I also saw some of the bumps you face on the road. I understand your challenges, but also the wonderful feeling of creating something new.” There are lots of ideas put forth in this program and some of them key points  are

Startup India Key Points

1. One-day incorporation via a mobile app

2. The exemption of startups from labour inspections for the first 3 years

3. 3 year tax holiday for startups

4. Faster exits for startups

5. Capital gains exemption on startups

6. Credit Guarantee Fund for loans to startups

7. Fund of Funds that invests in startups

Currently starting a company is not that rosy and there are lots of administrative challenges associated. The key issues are

Angel Tax: This was introduced in the Finance Act, 2012, mandated that if an unlisted company raise capital from any individual against an issue of shares in excess of the fair market value, then it will have to pay 33 per cent tax under Sec 56 (2) of the Income Tax Act.  The government has made no attempt to recognize the fact that angel money by private investors is a big part of the ecosystem and the current tax regime is a big disincentive. This has meant startups are now shifting base to countries like Singapore.

Administrative Bottlenecks: Unfriendly regulations and policy paralysis have led many startups in India to set up ventures in other developing countries. Currently, most of the startups fail to compete with the large firms as public procurement rules are tailored towards larger firms, mostly PSUs and MNCs.

Harshad Lahoti, Founder of Ah Ventures, says, “In India, a same level of compliance is required for a private company valued at Rs 20 lakh or Rs 20,000 crore and the New Companies Act has made matters worse. Delayed justice due to over-burdened judiciary is also a huge deterrence for investors, both domestic and international.”

Lack of infrastructure: Good roads, lower polluted environment, high speed Internet, corruption free business environment are very crucial to draw the interest of overseas startups in India.

However, due to rapidly-rising population, Inadequate infrastructure, A politician-realtor nexus and rising pollution. most of the metro cities in India are lacking the basic charm to attract talents. Bangalore is called silicon valley of India and recently Capgemini threatened to leave city.

These are the points, Modi govt should concentrate to make India a startup destination of the world.

  • Favorable infrastructure with less traffic, less pollution, high speed broadband
  • To create a favorable environment for small-ticket co-investments which can help early-stage entrepreneurs raise between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 2 crore.
  • To encourage the vast diaspora of innovative, educated, and smart Indians to move back to India and start up.
    Encourage the US tech majors to set up operations/support startups in India.
  • Cost of capital needs to be brought down through disruptive technologies like P2P lending marketplaces. FinTech innovations like P2P lending and crowdfunding need an impetus and clarity from the government.
  • Law like US’ JOBS Act should be enacted in India to open alternative avenues of raising capital for SMEs and startups.
  • Persuade the US tech majors to play a bigger role in Digital India without diluting net neutrality.
    Get universities and research Institutes to set up hubs in India.
  • Allow moratoriums for student loans for those pursuing entrepreneurship.
  • Consider matching investments for seed investments by central funding agencies.
  • Legal centres to help startups in understanding the legal framework surrounding various businesses in India.
  • Simplify regulations for companies for first three years of operations including incorporation, annual filings and closure.